Warwick police: $25,000 reward still available for clues in 2013 killing

Thursday

May 17, 2018 at 9:02 AMMay 17, 2018 at 11:39 AM

Tom Mooney Journal Staff Writer Mooneyprojo

WARWICK, R.I. -- The email from the Warwick Police Department filled the inboxes of news outlets Wednesday night. It asked the media not to forget John “Jack” Fay because five years after his unsolved killing, they hadn’t.

“This tragedy is still being aggressively investigated by the Warwick Police Department,” read the email.

Fay was 66, a retired postal worker, who liked to jog along the bike path in City Park.

On a Saturday morning, five years ago on this date, May 17, his body was found in a trash barrel, covered with brush, behind the backstop to Walter Henry Field in the park.

Though police say the case remains open, leads have not produced his killer. A $25,000 reward is still being offered to anyone with information that leads to the killer’s prosecution.

Neighbors described Fay at the time of his killing as about 6 feet tall, and weighing about 200 pounds. He was muscular and in good shape. Police said he had put up a fight before he was killed.

Police did not give details of how Fay died. But in January 2014, eight months after his killing, police asked the public if anyone recognized a 2.5-pound sledge hammer that they said was found near Fay’s body and is believed to be the murder weapon. It was 10 inches in length, with a custom-made handle that at one time might have been red.

In an interview Thursday, Major Rick Rathbun encouraged anyone who thinks they may have information about the crime to contact police, no matter how insignificant. "No matter how minor a detail people may think it may be, if you have anything let us know because it could be a final piece is the puzzle," Rathbun said.

Rathbun said detectives are working this case every week, following leads and reviewing breakthroughs in technology and DNA sampling that might prove valuable.